Act of Valor
by Hart's Justice
Summary: Not much I can say without giving the whole story up. One-shot for now. Might add Flynn and CeCe's POV of the accident later. Maybe. Slight RECE. *Based loosely on a true story*


**(Rocky's POV) **

I never saw it coming. No one did. No one knew that anyone was going to die. Especially not one of my closest friends. It's...It's one of those moments where you see something on TV and you think, 'This can't happen to me. There's no way it can.' And then it does and you're left broken, alone, confused, and unsure what to do even though you're the smart one and always know what to do in any situation. You feel like you have to be the strong one for everyone when everyone else is broken when really you were one of the few that was hit the hardest and you want to let it all out.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Let's start an hour and a half before the accident...

_**Flashback...** _

_CeCe and I were snuggling together on the couch, watching a rerun of Power Rangers with Flynn, who was sitting on the floor wearing his "Red Ranger uniform" which was just a simple red T-Shirt and black sweatpants. Now, I know it seems silly that two high school girls are watching Power Rangers, but it was with Flynn and he makes the show look cool. This seemed to be a Friday night tradition for the three of us. The night would start with Flynn playing in his room while CeCe and I were on the couch doing homework. Of coarse, I had already finished mine in Study Hall at school, so I was helping CeCe. Well, trying. CeCe kept trying to get out of it by trying to convince me to make out, which I had to admit sounded better than doing homework, but I had denied her (until after we were done ; ) Flynn would come out and catch us, rolling his eyes before sitting on the floor with a plastic Samurai sword. CeCe would get up and make a bowl of popcorn for Flynn and another bowl for CeCe and I to share And we all would sit and watch an hour's worth of Power Rangers_

_CeCe was now wearing a light blue half-shirt with black baggy silk pajama bottoms. CeCe's favorite Power Ranger was on a different Power Rangers show (the chick Blue Ranger from Ninja Storm. We were currently watching Power Rangers: Samurai), so instead of wearing regular blue for the Blue Samurai Ranger, we pretended that the Blue Ranger was a girl so CeCe could wear light blue. _

_"Come on, Green Ranger! Save Rocky!" Flynn exclaimed at the TV. CeCe and I laughed. The Pink Ranger was in trouble, and she was my favorite. I was wearing a long-sleeved pink shirt with black skinny jeans since I hadn't changed into my pajamas yet like CeCe had. On the TV, the Blue Ranger came out of nowhere and helped the Green Ranger save the Pink one._

_"Oh thank you, Blue Ranger. You saved me." I said, looking at CeCe, whose face was as red as her hair. I chuckled and kissed her softly, and she happily kissed back before we would watch the end. The second Power Rangers episode started and halfway through, I felt CeCe lay her head on my shoulder and yawn. I looked at her and wrapped my arms around her, smiling._

_"Ya know, Red Ranger isn't going to be very happy if you fall asleep." I whispered teasingly. CeCe buried her face in the crook of my neck._

_"Red Ranger can throw all the hissy fits he wants. Blue Ranger hasn't slept in two days." She mumbled. I smiled again and held her closer._

_"Well, Pink Ranger thinks it's a good idea if you fall asleep. Between school, homework, Shake It Up, Chicago, and taking care of Flynn since your mom has been working late all this week, you've been acting like Super Girl all week. Get some rest, sweetheart." I whispered. I felt CeCe smile against my neck and I felt her body relax as I held her. She would be out within minutes. I looked back at the TV and saw that the Samurai Rangers had defeated their opponent._

_"Samurai Rangers, victory is ours!" Flynn said, grinning as he jumped up, raising his plastic sword in the air victoriously. He turned and looked at CeCe and I, his face falling when he saw CeCe. "She fell asleep. She never falls asleep during Power Ranger Night." I smiled softly and patted the cushion beside me that CeCe wasn't on. He sat next to me and I wrapped one arm around the little boy. _

_"CeCe has been overworking herself this week." Flynn gave me a look like I was crazy. "Oh, you know it's true." I continued, chuckling._

_"Yeah, I guess. It's just weird hearing 'CeCe' and 'working' in the same sentence." Flynn said. We both chuckled._

_"Ok, I'm gonna let that one slide." I smiled. "But seriously, she didn't want to fall asleep. I convinced her to because she needs it. And not just for the show tomorrow. In fact, we should all head to bed. It's late." I said. Flynn nodded and yawned._

_"Good-night, Rocky." He said, hugging me. I was a bit surprised at the emotion he was showing, but I shook it off and hugged him back. Flynn slid off the couch, smiling lightly at CeCe. "Night, Sis. I love you." he whispered, kissing CeCe's head in a loving brotherly way before going to his room. I grabbed the remote off of the coffee table and flipped through the channels. Nothing caught my interest, so I shut the TV off and watched CeCe sleep for a bit. She looked so adorable, so peaceful. I smiled and slowly stood before picking CeCe up bridal style and carrying her to her room. I laid her on the bed gently and tucked her in with her favorite fleece blanket before going to the dresser and grabbing a pair of pajamas I kept here. I went to the bathroom CeCe had in her room and changed before coming back out and laying next to CeCe underneath the blanket, wrapping my arms around the smaller girl protectively as I fell asleep._

_**End Flashback...**_

I blinked back tears as I remembered that part of the night. That's all I tried to remember, the happy times. But when your heart's torn to shreds because of something that happened that could've been avoided, you can't help but think about it...

_**Flashback... **_

_I woke up suddenly and looked at the clock. 12:01 AM. I had only been asleep for a few hours. I sat up lightly and watched CeCe sleep. CeCe tossed slightly. She looked restless. _

_"Poor baby." I whispered, leaning down and kissing her softly. I sat up and looked around. I smelled smoke, but it didn't seem to be coming from inside the apartment. The moon was pouring light into CeCe's room and it made a light, smokey fog in the room. That's when the Red Flag popped up. CeCe started to cough. Really bad. _

_"CeCe?" I asked, shaking her arm._

_"CeCe! Rocky!" I heard Flynn yell._

_"CeCe! Wake up!" I yelled. CeCe snapped awake._

_"What?! I'm—" CeCe went into another coughing fit._

_"Flynn needs us. Are you ok?" I asked worriedly. CeCe shook her head._

_"Rocky, there's smoke in the apartment." she squeaked out. My eyes widened. CeCe was **extremely **sensitive to smoke. _

_"Stay here in the room. I'm going to get Flynn and we're gonna use the fire escape in here to get out." I explained, getting out of bed._

_"But, Rocky—"_

_"Stay here." I said sternly, going over to the door. The door knob was warm. Uh, oh. I opened it, walking out of the room and quickly closed it, choking on the thick cloud of smoke. I pulled my shirt up so it covered my nose and looked up to see a bright orange glow in the living room. "Flynn!" I called._

_"Rocky! I'm in the kitchen!" Flynn called back, coughing. I coughed once. The glow seemed to be coming from the TV, so I assumed the outlet was the source of the fire. now that I think about it, I guess there was too many things plugged in. I quickly felt my way behind the couch and into the kitchen, seeing Flynn in a ball on the floor._

_"Flynn!" I said, kneeling down next to him and scooping him into my arms. Flynn practically clung to me. _

_"Where's CeCe?" He asked, coughing. _

_"In her room. There's not as much smoke in there, so we're going to use the fire escape in her room." I explained. He simply nodded. I held Flynn in my arms and stood, feeling my way around. We were almost to CeCe's room when I tripped and fell to the floor._

_"Rocky?!" Flynn freaked. I tried to stand, but fell back down. I couldn't move my leg. Flynn didn't seem to see me try to stand or fall. _

_"Flynn, I'm fine. Sweetie, go to CeCe and get her out of here. You know how sensitive she is to smoke." I said. "I'll be right behind you." Flynn nodded and went to CeCe's room, closing the door behind him. I coughed, trying to crawl to CeCe's door. All of a sudden, I was lifted up and my arm was pulled over someone's shoulders as they supported me. Since we were so close, I managed to catch the scent of lavender. Wait...Lavender...That was..._

_CeCe._

_Lavender was CeCe's favorite scent. But, why was she still in here?"_

_"Ce—" I coughed._

_"It's ok, Rocks. I got ya." CeCe said, although coughing twice as hard. She led me to her room, which was now filled with smoke and took me to her window._

_"CeCe, go ahead with—"_

_"No, you're hurt. Go ahead, Rocky. I'll be fine." CeCe cut me off. If only I didn't listen to her. CeCe helped me onto the fire escape and I limped my way down. The fire department was already here and when I was halfway down, Jeremy (CeCe's mom's boyfriend) ran up to me._

_"Rocky, are you ok?" He asked me, worried._

_"Y-yeah. I think I sprained my ankle, though." Jeremy called one of his squad-mates up and she lifted me up. _

_"Wait, Rocky. Where's CeCe?" Jeremy asked. My eyes widened as I realized CeCe wasn't with me. _

_"Sh-she said she would be behind me!" I said shakily. Jeremy gasped and raced up the fire escape. Jeremy's squad-mate carried me down the fire escape and sat me on the ground. Flynn ran up to me._

_"Rocky!" He exclaimed. I hugged him tightly._

_"Hey Red Ranger. Are you ok?" I asked, my voice raspy from the smoke. Flynn nodded._

_"Yeah, but...where's Blue Ranger?" He asked. I swallowed hard, seeing Jeremy come out of the apartment with CeCe, who wasn't moving. I jumped up when Jeremy was off of the fire escape._

_"CeCe?" I said when Jeremy brought her over. CeCe didn't say anything. She didn't even move. Jeremy rushed her over to the paramedics and said something that I couldn't hear. Flynn and I were kept away from CeCe, which tore me apart, and Officer Jones came running up From her squad car._

_"Flynn! Rocky! Are you two ok?" She asked, hugging us both. _

_"Yeah, we're fine, but CeCe was taken to the paramedics." Flynn said. Jeremy came back over. I could tell by the glassy look in his eyes that something was seriously wrong._

_"Where's CeCe?" I asked softly. Jeremy gave me a sad look, pulling Officer Jones to the side and whispering something her. Officer Jones burst out crying and I couldn't figure out why. Jeremy hugged her comfortingly before they walked back up to us._

_"What the hell is going on?!" I demanded. Jeremy and Officer Jones both gave me a sad look._

_"Rocky, I'm so sorry..." Jeremy said. I was really confused now._

_"Sorry? Sorry about what? What is going on?" I said. Officer Jones sighed softly, holding back tears. _

_"Rocky, CeCe is gone. We lost her." She said as tears streamed down her face. It took me a moment to piece together what she said. CeCe was gone? Wait...no._

_No, no, no, no._

_CeCe was...dead?_

_No, no, no, no!_

_I ran as fast as I could with my sprained ankle to the paramedics, shoving past them to see CeCe laying motionless on the ground. I knelt down next to her and shook her shoulder._

_"CeCe." I said. Nothing. I shook her shoulder again a little harder. "CeCe! Baby, get up!" Still nothing. Tears started welling up in my eyes. "Damn it, CeCe! Get the hell up!" I burst into tears when my fiery redhead didn't move. Officer Jones knelt next to me and hugged me tightly._

_"It's ok, sweetheart. Let it out." She said soothingly. I cried even harder, burying my face into Officer Jones' shoulder. After what seemed like a year, I looked up and wiped my eyes. _

_"Wh-what...H-how..." I managed to choke out. One paramedic gave me a sad smile._

_"She died from smoke inhalation." The paramedic said. I burst into tears again._

_"I should've let her out first!" I cried. Officer Jones hugged me tightly again._

_"Sweetie, it's not your fault." She said. _

_"Why?! Why did she hafta play Hero and save me!" I yelled._

_"Because she loved you." Officer Jones said._

_"But I would've been able to get out! She knew how sensitive she was to smoke!" I cried even harder, getting out of Officer Jones' embrace and sat next to CeCe. I brushed CeCe's hair out of her face and kissed her softly. Her lips were already getting cold, but I continued to kiss her, like that cheesy fairy tale movie where the prince kisses the princess and the princess comes back to life. But, unfortunately for me, it wasn't like a movie. CeCe didn't come back. I lost the love of my life forever._

_**End Flashback...**  
_

I cried as I thought about how CeCe died. I looked at the picture on my desk, one of CeCe and I kissing on our first date at Crusty's. Deuce has taken the picture and sent it to us. It has been my favorite picture since then.

_'Someday, Ceece. Someday we'll be back together.' _I thought as I held the pictire tightly against my chest before laying on my bed and crying myself to sleep.

**Ok, so I needed to write this to get this out of my system. Those of you who read "Our Love It Up!" know that I lost a close friend who was like my brother from smoke inhalation saving his twin baby brothers when his home burned down. His family is ok, but like I said, Zach died. This is dedicated to my "brother" Zach. I love you and you will never be forgotten.**_  
_

**R.I.P. Zach - 11/15/12**


End file.
